Engaging Martinsville: Community Action Helping Tackle the Opioid Epidemic For years, Southwest Virginia has been heavily impacted by the opioid epidemic. This includes the town of Martinville, Virginia, which has had one of the highest rates of opioid pills prescribed per person in the country. To address the epidemic in the region, the Center on…
Recent Posts
Working-age Americans dying at higher rates, especially in economically hard-hit states A new Center study identifies “a distinctly American phenomenon” as mortality among 25 to 64 year-olds increases and U.S. life expectancy continues to fall. Mortality rates among working-age Americans continue to climb, causing a decrease in U.S. life expectancy that is severely impacting certain…
In his recently published editorial for the Annals of Family Medicine, Dr. Steven H. Woolf (Director Emeritus of the Center on Society and Health) discusses several means through which to improve population health, stressing the importance of addressing root causes through cross-sector collaborations. He pays particular attention to the role that health care systems can…
Tierah West, MPH candidate and Research Assistant at the Center on Society and Health, lectured to VCU students, staff, and faculty as part of the Division of Epidemiology’s seminar series on Tuesday, October 30. Her lecture, titled “How to optimize volunteer work to help disadvantaged communities: Community conversations in Richmond, Virginia’s East End neighborhood,” focused on…
Recent research from the VCU Center on Society and Health found that life expectancy across the metropolitan Washington region varies by as much as 27 years and health can differ drastically within a single county, from neighborhood to neighborhood. The report – Uneven Opportunities: How Conditions for Wellness Vary Across the Metropolitan Washington Region – was commissioned by…
Doctoral students Jong Hyung (John) Lee and DaShaunda Taylor presented posters at the VDH Office of Health Equity conference on October 17th. The conference, “Sowing the Seeds of Health Equity: Growing Healthy Connected Communities,” offered an opportunity for students to present their work to the distinguished public health audience in attendance. Both students presented on…
Acting Center Director, Derek Chapman, PhD, gave the keynote address to the American Hospital Association (AHA)’s National Health Equity Program kickoff learning lab on September 26th. Dr. Chapman serves as part of the National Advisory Committee for the AHA’s National Health Equity Program, a new initiative funded by the Aetna Foundation working to develop clinical-community…
The VCU Center on Society and Health’s Mapping Life Expectancy Project was featured at the Atlantic Festival 2018 in Washington, DC. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, funder of the Mapping Life Expectancy Project and underwriter for the festival, displayed the center’s life expectancy maps on an interactive screen. Festival attendees could explore the maps outside…
By Steven H. Woolf, MD, MPH This year marks two important transitions for the Center on Society and Health. In 2017, the Center celebrated its 10th anniversary, having been chartered by the VCU Board of Visitors in 2007. And this year marks a transition for me: after founding the Center and serving as its director…
Center on Society and Health’s Community Engagement Research Associate Alicia Aroche served as one of three panelists during the first event of a community conversation series on September 8. The series, Building Healthier Connected Communities, is sponsored by the Virginia Department of Health and the Black History Museum. The series consists of three events–each with…